Tove Lo details a self-acceptance struggle in new song “Grapefruit”
It’s the fifth and final single from her fifth studio album, Dirt Femme, out Friday.
Tove Lo has shared the fifth and final single from her forthcoming fifth studio LP. “Grapefruit” is out now alongside a cinematic visual treatment courtesy of Lisette Donkersloot, and Dirt Femme is due out this Friday (October 14) via Tove’s own, brand new indie label, Pretty Swede Records.
In the new song, Tove comes clean for the first about the eating disorder that controlled her for years and nearly ruined her singing career. “Counting while I run the tap, I’m on my knees / Choking on my hands all night, in my sleep,” she begins, a Robyn-esque synth beat building behind her. “Counting all the calories, now get ’em up / Body positivity, help me out.”
Despite its serious subject matter, the song soon breaks out into a full-on dance number, its infectiously triumphant tone reflecting how far Tove has come in her struggle to accept the woman she sees in the mirror. Even in the video — which shows her convulsing in choreographed agony in a depressingly lit kitchen (featuring a fridge that contains only the titular, moldy grapefruit) and a padded cell — her moves and wardrobe choices project the confidence of a performer who is fully at home in her own skin.